The big deal with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in my view (I teach middle school kids who speak English as a second language - every single one of them is a 7th grader who reads at a 2-3rd grade level), is that they're easy enough, interesting enough, and relatable enough to kids who can't read very well. The books you mentioned, Lewis, L'Engle, Wilder, et al - my kids wouldn't even pick those up, let alone read more than a page. The language is archaic, the contexts unfamiliar, and the plots too complex and long (just using these as examples since you mentioned them as examples of what you liked). Kids need to be successful at reading in order to stay with it, practice and become better readers. Wimpy Kid, while perhaps not being quality literature, has a good combination of text that's larger and spread out, pictures to help with comprehension, and humor that kids can relate to.
I can understand the desire to put better literature in kids' hands, but forcing them to read something leaves you with a kid who hates to read and who won't be as good as they could be if they still found reading to be a fun activity. Just my two cents.
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Date: 2010-12-13 11:08 pm (UTC)I can understand the desire to put better literature in kids' hands, but forcing them to read something leaves you with a kid who hates to read and who won't be as good as they could be if they still found reading to be a fun activity. Just my two cents.